16 Google Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

There are various hidden Easter Eggs, jokes, and little timewasters in almost every Google web service, product, or new device. Here are some hidden gems users have documented over the years.

1. 1998

Search for “Google In 1998” and the search results will appear in the style of a website from 1998 when the company was first founded.

2. Android's Sweet Digital Treats

Since 2008, Google’s mobile operating system has taken the name of a tasty dessert for every major release (the first was Cupcake for Android 1.5). Since the release of Gingerbread (Android 2.3), users have been able to make the sweet treats pop up on screen by going to the “About Device” section of “Settings" and tapping “Android Version."

In Gingerbread, the Android robot appeared with a zombie gingerbread man. Later Easter Eggs were more interactive: Flying ice cream sandwich bars appear when users held down the Android robot in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Floating jellybeans emerge when users tapped the large jellybean icon for Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

The Android 4.4 (Kit-Kat) Easter egg features a spinning “K,” but if you hold it down, an Android logo in the style of the Kit-Kat logo appears. If you hold that logo down, then all of the past versions of Android desserts emerge.

In the late 80s, video game developer Konami utilized a special cheat code that could be used on the company's video games. The “Konami Code” was made popular with Contra for the Nintendo Entertainment System. When players input “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start” during the game’s title sequence, they could unlock 30 extra lives to get through the game instead of the standard three.

Google has used the Konami Code on a few of its products, including Google Play Games, Google Docs, and Google’s Chromebook Pixel. Swiping the Konami Code in the Google Play Games mobile app will unlock a clever achievement that reads, “All Your Games Belong To Us.” In Google voice search, saying the Konami Code will grant you "free searches," and in Google’s Chromebook Pixel, typing in the code will make the LCD stripe on the outside of the computer blink in a frenzy of various colors.

6. YouTube's Search Results

Searching for “Beam Me Up Scotty,” will load the video results as if they were beamed from the U.S.S. Enterprise.

The fun isn't limited to just sci-fi. When the “Harlem Shake” was a huge pop culture phenomenon, searching “Do The Harlem Shake” made the YouTube video search results do the very popular Internet meme.

7. Police Telephone Box

In Google Maps, search for “Police Telephone Box.” It will bring you Earl’s Court Station. Go to the location’s streetview and you’ll see the Doctor Who TARDIS on the sidewalk. Click the double-white arrows in front of the police box and you’ll be sent to the inside of the time machine. Once inside, you’ll be able to have a 360-degree view of its interior.

8. Google Hangouts' Gifs (and Ponies)

In May 2013, Google merged all their chat and messaging services into one convenient app called Google Hangouts. Not only did this allow Google users to chat with anyone on a mobile device or computer, it also allowed users to send people various animated GIFs and pixel streams.

Typing in “/Pitchforks” in a Google Hangouts dialogue box will launch a stream of angry townspeople racing across the screen with pitchforks. “/ShyDino” will feature a green dinosaur hiding behind a small house in your chat window, while typing “/BikeShed” will also change the background color. And they didn't forget My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in Google Hangouts, either: Typing in “/Ponies” or “/Ponystream” will make animated ponies dash across your chat window.

11. Kevin Bacon

Google even plays “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" when you search for “Bacon Number (name of an actor).” If you search for “Bacon Number Kevin Bacon,” the answer is zero.

12. Google Play's Unicorns

Google’s online digital store is the one-stop shop for Android and Google users to buy music, movies, TV shows, mobile apps, and books. If you do a search without typing or entering text in the search bar, “Unicorns” will automatically be searched.

13. Google Glass Team Photo

Even the much-maligned Google Glass includes an Easter Egg. If you tap on the device’s touchpad nine times while viewing the license agreement in “Device Info” within “Settings,” then tap “Meet Team” and it will bring up a photo of the entire Google Glass development team, which was taken using Google Glass.

14. Happy Festivus!

When you search for “Festivus” in Google, a very long Festivus pole, as described on the TV comedy Seinfeld, appears on the left side of the screen. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and you can see the base of the Festivus pole.

15. ChromeCast's Nod to Hitchhiker's Guide

Google’s Chromecast makes it easier to stream online videos to your home TV. Its engineers and designers included a small Easter Egg in the form of its very clever serial number. “Model H2G2-42” is a reference to Douglas Adams’ science fiction novel Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. H2G2 is the fans’ abbreviation of the long title and 42 is “the ultimate answer to life the universe and everything,” referenced in the book.

16. One

In Google Now, use voice search to ask, “OK Google. What is the loneliest number?” Google Now will respond with the number one. It’s a reference to the Harry Nilsson song “One.”

Rudie Obias is a freelance writer interested in cinema, pop culture, and science fiction. His work can be found at ShockYa.com, io9.com, Giantfreakinrobot.com, CriterionCast.com, and, of course, Mental Floss. He is also the co-host of the movie podcast, The AuteurCast. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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